SAN MARINO – San Marino head football coach Mike Hobbie announced Wednesday that he will step down and retire as a teacher at the end of the school year.

Hobbie, who is also the school’s baseball coach, said he will coach the baseball team this spring before stepping down from that position too.

Hobbie took over as football coach in 2011 and compiled a record of 72-24-1 at the school.

In 2015 he led the Titans to a CIF Southern Section divisional title and advanced to the state championship game while compiling a 15-1 record.

The umpire speaks to San Marino Head Coach, Mike Hobbie during a Rio Hondo League game against Monrovia at San Marino High School on Thursday, May 10, 2018. (Correspondent photo by Trevor Stamp)

“I’ll hit my full retirement from the state in May. It’s time for me to me retire,” said Hobbie who led the Titans to a Rio Hondo League title and the quarterfinals of the Division 9 playoffs before suffering a 33-28 loss to North Torrance this past season. “It’s pretty simple, I have no complaints at all. It’s time to do something different with my life.”

For the last three football seasons, Hobbie was able to coach his grandson Beau, who thrived under his tutelage.

Beau Hobbie was named the 2018 Pasadena Star News Offensive Player of the Year. During his three years, Beau rushed for 3,710 yards and scored 65 touchdowns.

According to Mike Hobbie, the departure of Beau had nothing to do with his decision to step down.

“With (Beau) graduating this year, it had nothing to do with my decision,” Hobbie said. “It was more of a coincidence more than anything else. Not many coaches can say that they had a opportunity to coach their grandson. It was great.”

The apex of Hobbie’s tenure at San Marino was in 2015 when the Titans defeated Sierra Canyon 36-35 to win the CIF State Southern California Regional Small Schools Open Division Bowl championship. It came on the heels of a 45-28 victory over Charter Oak in the CIF-SS Central Division title game.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” said Hobbie when asked about his recollections of that season. “If you win a lot of games, you feel good about yourself and your team feels pretty good too. I have some great memories of that year. It certainly ranks up there as one of the top achievements in my coaching career.”

Hobbie says he started coaching high school football in 1976, at a school in Florida, and that he coached nine different programs before settling in as coach at San Marino in 2011.

“I can’t express in words how much (San Marino) has supported me,” Hobbie said. “In an era of helicopter parents, I have no complaints on the support that I received from every single parent that I dealt with. They supported me through everything. I would talk to other coaches from other schools and I’m glad I didn’t have to deal with half the problems I heard from other coaches. From the administration, to the parents and the kids, I have nothing to complain about.”

By state law, the school must open the football position to anyone who wants to apply.

Hobbie hopes Thomas Camerano, one of his key assistant coaches, will take over as head coach.

“(Camerano has) been a loyal assistant and I’ve been very lucky to have him on my staff,” Hobbie said. “He could have gone to other places, but he decided to stay and I am extremely thankful. It’s time for him to get his chance.”

San Marino’s main rival in the Rio Hondo League is Monrovia. Although he faced off only once against Hobbie, current Wildcats coach Chris Williams found out first-hand what it was like to go up against a Mike Hobbie-coached team.

“He was one of our hardest matchups to prepare for,” Williams said. “The thing that I liked about him was that he was going to put his players in the best position to succeed. They definitely have a culture over there of ‘next man up.’ You can tell that they believed in everything he said. He was a great coach and we have nothing but respect for them.”

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